Fellow Physician University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Medicine Little Rock, Arkansas, United States
Background: As survival of pediatric critical illness has improved to >98%, increased focus has been placed on long-term outcomes for children, including cognitive impacts. Data are limited on the impact of critical illness on educational needs or school performance for children. Objective: The aim of this study is to measure rate of new educational accommodations (i.e., 504s or Individual Educational Plans [IEP]) and identify risk factors associated with acquisition of new educational accommodations after Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) admission. We hypothesize that Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) admissions with longer length of stay or sepsis diagnosis will be associated with new educational accommodations. Design/Methods: We conducted a single-center retrospective study evaluating children admitted to the PICU at our tertiary care hospital with a statewide catchment area. We used the Virtual Pediatric System database to identify children (7-17 years old) admitted to the PICU between 2008-2018. We excluded patients with a prior admission to this PICU, those who died during hospitalization, and patients who were residents of another state. Eligible patients were linked to state educational data. We will measure the rate of new educational accommodations in the entire cohort and within patient subgroups (e.g., primary diagnosis of sepsis) and use multivariable logistic regression to evaluate for clinical variables associated with new acquisition of a 504 or IEP plan after controlling for social vulnerability and school-level variables.
This study was granted a waiver for informed consent and HIPAA authorization by the IRB. Educational data release was consistent with Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act disclosure laws. We linked health and educational records for 3,956 children who experienced a critical illness and had educational information available. All data has been collected and analysis will be completed in January 2024.
